"I think they want accountability," Marine Corps veteran Iris Martinez said with respect to the many politicians -- on the right and the left -- who called for Shinseki to go. The VFW will never tolerate politics as usual when it comes to the proper care and treatment of our nation's heroes. “I always take responsibility for whatever happens.”“He believed he would be a distraction from the task at hand,” Obama said, lauding many of Shinseki’s efforts at the VA, while praising his career of military service.
V eterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki has resigned following a weeks-long scandal at the agency, President Barack Obama announced Friday. “It’s past time for Obama to step up & fix this mess.”“What they found that the misconduct has not been limited to a few VA facilities, but many across the country,” Obama said of the preliminary review.“A few minutes ago Secretary Shinseki offered his own resignation,” Obama said in a hastily called news conference at the White House after a meeting with Shinseki. Veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan are further straining the system with mental health problems like post-traumatic stress disorder.In addition, many of the more recent patients are seeking treatment for profound injuries that would not have been survivable in earlier wars but are today, in part because of mandatory body armor and improvements in front-line medical care.“It won’t be pretty,” said the official, who asked for anonymity to be blunt about the challenge facing Mr. Obama in the months ahead.The audit was unsparing in its documentation of the extent of problems.
He was the first Asian-American four-star general, and the first Asian-American Secretary of Veterans Affairs. Get the latest breaking news delivered straight to your inbox.Thien added that Shinseki was a leader whose "personal integrity and commitment to duty and to others is above reproach," but calls for his resignation were overshadowing the task at hand.Driscoll said the outcry over the secret waiting lists and other misconduct at VA hospitals was "absolutely appropriate," though he thinks Shinseki could have turned the problem around if given the time and resources. Shinseki is a veteran of two tours of combat in the Vietnam War, in which he was awarded three Bronze Star Medals for valor and two Purple Hearts.
"Five years ago it was a lot harder to get into the VA, at least in Kansas City, than it is now," he said, expressing concern that new leadership at the VA will mean a delay in progress. Responding to an interim inspector general report which found "systemic" problems with clinics misrepresenting patient wait times, Shinseki also announced he would oust senior leaders at the Phoenix VA, where allegations of improper scheduling practices first surfaced.He said Shinseki told him he did not want to be a distraction. "I agree," Obama said. Despite the current problems, many veterans say that the quality of care delivered — once they are able to get into the system — is much better today.President Obama announced Mr. Shinseki’s departure after a 45-minute Oval Office meeting between the two men that ended a week of mounting demands from both parties for the secretary to step down. “Personnel changes aren’t an answer to the problem for our veterans,” Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus wrote on Twitter. WASHINGTON — In the end, even Eric Shinseki knew he had to go, President Barack Obama said Friday in announcing the resignation of his only Veterans Affairs secretary over a … “A few minutes ago Secretary Shinseki …